Published 4:34 pm, Friday, February 14, 2014

Scientists growing the new lung in the chamber they designed. (UTMB photo)

Scientists growing the new lung in the chamber they designed. (UTMB photo)

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Cells stripped from damaged lungs getting ready to have new cells grown on them. (UTMB photo)

Cells stripped from damaged lungs getting ready to have new cells grown on them. (UTMB photo)

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Adult human lung cells are then grown on the structure to create a new lung.

Adult human lung cells are then grown on the structure to create a new lung.

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PHOTOS: Medical advancements that came from Houston

We've all had to run to one of the Bayou City's many hospitals for one
reason or another, but Houstonians aren't the only ones reaping the
benefits of our world-class medical community. Check out these medical
advancements, innovations and breakthroughs that came out of our own
backyard.Flu-be-gone?Who loves getting a flu shot? Yea, we get it; no one enjoys getting pricked at the doctor's office year after year. Lucky for us, UTMB in Galveston has been awarded $4.4 million for research that could spell the end for your annual flu shot.

The potential new vaccine would be so effective, scientists at UTMB say, that it could adapt to any strain of flu with one single vaccine. It does this by activating the body's T cells, which are crucial to our immune system.

We've all had to run to one of the Bayou City's many hospitals for one reason or another, but Houstonians aren't the only ones reaping the benefits of our ... more

Photo: Mike Lauterborn

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The gift of graftBaylor College of Medicine is credited with inventing the Dacron graft, which usually replaces or repairs blood vessels. Houston's Dr. Michael Ellis DeBakey was the first U.S. surgeon to remove an aneurysm in the aorta near the stomach.

Here, Dr. DeBakey holds arterial grafts in 1966, fabricated from knitted Dacron tubing which have proven to be, in this gifted surgeon's hands, a lifesaving device for hundreds of his patients. less

On board the ambulance is a computed tomography (CT) scanner that allows a mobile stroke unit team member to quickly assess whether a patient is having a stroke caused by a blood clot and if so, the clot-buster tPA (tissue plasminogen activator) can be administered. The stroke unit will be run in conjunction with the Emergency Medical Services of the Houston Fire Department, Bellaire Fire Department and West University Fire Department. less

The nation's first mobile stroke unit
The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) Medical School, in partnership with Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center, unveiled the country’s ... more

Photo: Cody Duty, Houston Chronicle

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Rett syndromeBaylor College of Medicine discovered the gene that causes Rett syndrome. That's a post-natal genetic disorder in the grey matter of the brain that primarily affects girls.

Pictured above, Dr. Jeffrey Neul with the Baylor College of Medicine
works with Rett syndrome patient Maddi Kowalik. Neul was
awarded a $20,000 grant to continue research for a cure for Rett
syndrome. less

Rett syndrome
Baylor College of Medicine discovered the gene that causes Rett syndrome. That's a post-natal genetic disorder in the grey matter of the brain that primarily affects girls.

What you're looking at above is when lung cancer cells are bombed with Taxol, the blue and green areas have been dispersed and cells have taken on a reddish hue, signifying the disruption of their innards. Pretty cool, huh? less

Pump it up (or don't)
Physicians at the Texas Heart Institute have created a heart pump that keeps blood flowing, but produces no pulse. The blood flows steady like a garden hose making it easier to keep going. less

The lab has simulations of "Virtual Iraq," a state-of-the-art program
designed to provide a realistic recreation of a patrol in Bagdad or
riding in a Humvee across the Iraq desert, right down to the smell of
smoke from explosions. Other VR programs recreate scenarios in the
civilian world, like a crowded bar or a rooftop party, so veterans can
practice coping strategies to avoid alcohol and drug problems that often
come hand-in-hand with PTSD. less

Patrick Bordnick, an associate professor at the University of Houston, holds a the scents used in virtual reality technology to treat veterans suffering from post traumatic stress disorder and addiction.

Patrick Bordnick, an associate professor at the University of Houston, holds a the scents used in virtual reality technology to treat veterans suffering from post traumatic stress disorder and addiction.

Sweet dreamsThe brainiacs at Rice University won an award for
a creating a cheaper CPAP machine, which is used in sleep apnea
therapy. With the average cost of a CPAP machine costing about $6,000,
the
students created the model on the left using Tupperware and a water
bottle, which evolved into a model that would cost $400.

Pictured with medical innovations, created by Rice students in the Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen, are professors Rebecca Richards-Kortum, left, and Maria Oden, who won the $100,000 Lemelson-MIT Award for Global Innovation. The professors are dedicating their prize money toward the construction
of a new neonatal nursery at the African hospital that has helped
implement Rice's low-cost, student-designed health care technologies
since 2007.
The nursery will improve patient care at Queen Elizabeth Central
Hospital in Blantyre, Malawi, and support technology innovation through
Rice's Day One project. less

Ride Sally, rideRice University undergraduates Lila Kerr, left, and Lauren Theis assemble a "Sally Centrifuge," a low-cost device that could help doctors diagnose anemia in rural parts of the world.﻿

Ride Sally, ride
Rice University undergraduates Lila Kerr, left, and Lauren Theis assemble a "Sally Centrifuge," a low-cost device that could help doctors diagnose anemia in rural parts of the world.﻿

Photo: Jeff Fitlow, Rice University

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"Sally Centrifuge" is made out of a
salad spinner, segments of combs, plastic lids, yogurt cups and glue.
The invention has the potential to become the low cost non-electrical
solution health care providers in rural parts of the world have been
seeking to diagnose anemia in the field. less

"Sally Centrifuge" is made out of a
salad spinner, segments of combs, plastic lids, yogurt cups and glue.
The invention has the potential to become the low cost non-electrical
solution health care providers ... more

Doctors at the Unitversity of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston say they have discovered how to grow human lungs. It's a move that could eventually save the lives of hundreds of people waiting for lung transplants.

There are currently 1,600 patients on the waiting list for new lungs, according to Medical Daily. The team at UTMB has spent the last 10 years trying to master this technique so it can one day help people like them.

"The changes that are happening in the field are really exciting," said Dr. Joan Nichols, one of the lead authors of the study. "This is like science fiction."

Their method recycles old lungs which have been deemed too damaged for transplant, perhaps from someone who died in a high trauma accident like a car crash.

The remaining cells are stripped away to form what is like a lung skeleton. Then cells from another old lung are attached and the growing process can begin taking place in much the same way as a baby growing in a uterus. A new set of lungs can be ready within four or five weeks.

Doctors say the breakthrough came last year when one of the team managed to successfully grow a lung in a fish tank that was adapted to form a psuedo womb.

"There really is no equipment out there to do this kind of thing, the fish tank was the closest thing we could find that was lung shaped," said Dr. Nichols. "We fill the tank with nutritional fluid, which acts a lot like the amneotic fluid of the womb, only ours looks alot like Kool-aid."

They even used a marine bubbler to aerate the tank and keep the new lung alive.

"We throw away so many lungs every year because they are deemed unsuitable for transplant," said Nichols. "This would be a way to use them, they could have some benefit to people."

The team says it could begin testing transplants on animals within two or three years. For humans, the wait is more like 10 to 15.

The team's vision goes well beyond growing lungs on demand for people when they need a transplant. Dr. Nichols says organ banks could be created ahead of time, with not just lungs, but other organs being grown in advance and ready on demand.

"This is not going to be realised in my lifetime," said Nichols. "But I am still amazed at what we've been able to do, it has taken a huge number of people."